The Department of State's proposed rule on the high school category of the Exchange Visitor Program, published on May 3, includes a provision prohibiting single parents without school age children in the home from hosting exchange student students. The proposed regulations suggest that single host parents put students at risk, but do not offer any data to support this conclusion. 



This provision not only discriminates against an entire class of Americans, but also would reduce the positive impact of high school exchanges by reducing the number of host families available, and thus the number of students who can participate. 



The Alliance urges you to contact your Senators and Representatives immediately and ask them to request that the Department of State eliminate this damaging provision. Take action here! Using the template letter provided, you can contact your entire Congressional delegation in just a few minutes. Please feel free to edit the letter to include examples from your own programs. 



Thank you for your important work in supporting international exchange programs, and don’t hesitate to share this call to action with your staff, members, and/or chapters.